Biography
Once voted by his acting school classmates as the least likely to succeed, Hackman essayed some of filmdom's most memorable characters, a few of which earned the gruff, but sensitive actor several Academy Award nominations. Beginning as a reliable character player on stage, Hackman emerged as an unlikely hero of the counterculture with a bombastic turn in Arthur Penn's seminal "Bonnie and Clyde" (1967). Just a few years later, he secured …
Latest Tv Credits
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Career Milestones
2004 | Played a former president who runs for mayor of a small town against a local candidate in "Welcome to Mooseport" | |
2003 | Played a ruthless jury consultant in the thriller feature "Runaway Jury" | |
2001 | Played the rascally patriarch of a dysfunctional family of geniuses in "The Royal Tenenbaums"; Owen Wilson co-wrote script with director Wes Anderson | |
2001 | Appeared opposite Owen Wilson in the war drama "Behind Enemy Lines" | |
2001 | Landed featured role in "Heartbreakers," a comedy about a mother-daughter con artist team | |
2001 | Appeared in "The Mexican" in an uncredited cameo | |
2000 | Executive produced and starred in the crime drama "Under Suspicion" | |
2000 | Starred as a football coach in "The Replacements" | |
1999 | Published first novel Wake of the Perdido Star, co-written with undersea archaeologist Daniel Lenihan; duo co-authored three more novels: Justice for None (2004), Escape from Andersonville (2008) and Payback at Morning Peak (2011) | |
1998 | In a nod to "The Conversation," played a surveillance expert who assists Will Smith in "Enemy of the State" | |
1998 | Voiced the character of the fascistic General Mandible in the animated feature "Antz" | |
1998 | Cast as a dignified movie star married to Susan Sarandon in "Twilight," also starring Paul Newman as a retired detective | |
1997 | Portrayed the U.S. President possibly caught up in murder in "Absolute Power" | |
1996 | Second appearance in a film based on a John Grisham novel, "The Chamber"; played a white supremacist defended by his grandson (Chris O'Donnell) | |
1996 | Played the straight man as a conservative U.S .senator in "The Birdcage," directed by Mike Nichols | |
1995 | Showed comic side as a hack director in "Get Shorty" | |
1995 | Provided formidable opposition to Denzel Washington as the captain of a submarine in the taut thriller "Crimson Tide" | |
1994 | Cast as the patriarch of the family in "Wyatt Earp" | |
1993 | Portrayed a burnt-out lawyer in "The Firm," based on the John Grisham novel | |
1992 | Returned to Broadway in "Death and the Maiden" alongside Richard Dreyfuss and Glenn Close | |
1992 | Delivered fine villainous turn as a corrupt sheriff in Clint Eastwood's "Unforgiven"; received Best Supporting Actor Oscar | |
1990 | Underwent surgery for angina, provoking a two-year hiatus from acting | |
1990 | Played a film director in Mike Nichols' "Postcards From the Edge," adapted from Carrie Fisher's roman-a-clef | |
1989 | Starred opposite Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio as father-daughter lawyers on opposite sides of a case in "Class Action" | |
1988 | Earned Best Actor Academy Award nomination as an FBI agent investigating the murders of civil rights workers in "Mississippi Burning" | |
1988 | Acted opposite Gena Rowlands in Woody Allen's "Another Woman" | |
1987 | Reprised role of Lex Luthor in the disappointing "Superman IV: The Quest for Peace" | |
1986 | Played the coach of a small-town Indiana high school basketball team in "Hoosiers" | |
1985 | Played a middle-aged man going through a midlife crisis resulting in an affair in the underrated "Twice in a Lifetime" | |
1983 | Delivered fine turn as a news anchorman in "Under Fire" | |
1981 | Had misfire as comic lead opposite Barbra Streisand in "All Night Long" | |
1981 | Returned to features after "retirement" in supporting role of editor Peter Van Wherry in Beatty's epic "Reds" | |
1978 | Offered deliciously sly turn as the villainous Lex Luthor in "Superman"; reprised role in 1980's "Superman II" (shot simultaneously with the first) | |
1977 | "Retired" from acting for four years | |
1977 | Appeared as part of the all-star cast of Richard Attenborough's WWII epic "A Bridge Too Far" | |
1975 | Reteamed with director Arthur Penn for "Night Moves" | |
1975 | Reprised role of Popeye Doyle in "French Connection II" | |
1974 | Offered hilarious cameo as the blind hermit in Mel Brooks' horror spoof "Young Frankenstein" | |
1974 | Portrayed a specialist in planting bugging devices in Francis Ford Coppola's "The Conversation" | |
1972 | Headed the all-star cast of "The Poseidon Adventure" as a defrocked minister who becomes the de facto leader of those who survived the underwater disaster | |
1971 | Breakthrough screen role, NYC detective Popeye Doyle in "The French Connection"; reportedly almost quit film over its violent content; earned Best Actor Oscar | |
1970 | Earned second Academy Award nomination as Best Supporting Actor for "I Never Sang for My Father" | |
1969 | Appeared as one of the astronauts trapped in space in "Marooned" | |
1968 | TV-movie debut, "Shadow on the Land" (ABC) | |
1967 | Hired by Beatty to play Buck Barrow in "Bonnie and Clyde"; received first Academy Award nomination as Best Supporting Actor; also initial collaboration with Arthur Penn | |
1964 | First major film role, "Lilith"; also first screen collaboration with Warren Beatty | |
1964 | Rose to prominence in Broadway production of "Any Wednesday" opposite Sandy Dennis | |
1963 | Broadway debut, "Children at Their Games" | |
1961 | Made impression with guest appearance on the debut episode of the CBS series "The Defenders" | |
1961 | Appeared with the improvisational troupe The Premise in Greenwich Village | |
1961 | Feature film acting debut, small role as a cop in "Mad Dog Coll" | |
1959 | TV acting debut on the episode "Little Tin God" of CBS' "U.S. Steel Hour"; later appeared on several other installments of the show | |
1958 | New York stage debut in "Chaparral" | |
| Asked to leave Playhouse school; returned to NYC | ||
1958 | Made stage debut opposite ZaSu Pitts in "The Curious Miss Caraway" at the Pasadena Playhouse | |
| Moved to California to attend the Pasadena Playhouse acting school; voted "Least Likely to Succeed" along with classmate Dustin Hoffman | ||
| In the 1950s, worked throughout the Midwest as a radio announcer and in NYC at various jobs | ||
1950 | Broke both legs in a motorcycle accident | |
| While serving in China, worked as a disc jockey for U.S. Armed Forces Radio | ||
1946 | Joined the Marines at age 16 after quitting school | |
| Settled in Danville, IL; raised by maternal grandmother | ||
| Family moved frequently in his early childhood | ||
Awards
2002 | Golden Globe Award for Cecil B. DeMille Award |
2001 | National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actor in The Royal Tenenbaums |
2001 | Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Comedy Or Musical in The Royal Tenenbaums |
1997 | Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture in The Birdcage |
1996 | Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture in Get Shorty |
1992 | BAFTA Award for Actor In a Supporting Role in Unforgiven |
1992 | Academy Award for Actor In a Supporting Role in Unforgiven |
1992 | Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture in Unforgiven |
1992 | National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actor in Unforgiven |
1992 | Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actor in Unforgiven |
1992 | Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actor in Unforgiven |
1992 | New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actor in Unforgiven |
1989 | Berlin International Film Festival for Silver Bear for Best Actor in Mississippi Burning |
1988 | Academy Award for Actor In a Leading Role in Mississippi Burning |
1988 | National Board of Review Award for Best Actor in Mississippi Burning |
1988 | Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama in Mississippi Burning |
1985 | Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama in Twice in A Lifetime |
1983 | Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture in Under Fire |
1978 | BAFTA Award for Supporting Actor in Superman |
1975 | BAFTA Award for Actor in The French Connection II |
1975 | Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama in The French Connection II |
1974 | BAFTA Award for Actor in The Conversation |
1974 | National Board of Review Award for Best Actor in The Conversation |
1974 | Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama in The Conversation |
1972 | BAFTA Award for Actor |
1972 | BAFTA Award for Actor in The Poseidon Adventure |
1971 | Academy Award for Actor in The French Connection |
1971 | National Board of Review Award for Best Actor in The French Connection |
1971 | New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor in The French Connection |
1971 | Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama in The French Connection |
1970 | Academy Award for Actor In a Supporting Role in I Never Sang For My Father |
1967 | Academy Award for Actor In a Supporting Role in Bonnie and Clyde |
1967 | National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actor in Bonnie and Clyde |